Itivuttaka 99
Tipitaka >> Sutta Pitaka >> Khuddaka Nikaya >> Itivuttaka >> 99. Tevijjasuttam Adapted From the Translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu(Geoffrey DeGraff) Compared with the Pali Tipitaka at www.tipitaka.org ---- 99. Tevijjasuttam (Threefold Knowledge, The Process of Enlightenment) This was said by the Lord Buddha(Bhagavata), said by the Arahant, so I have heard: “It’s with reference to Dhamma, monks, that I describe person as a brahman with threefold knowledge, and not another as measured by citing & reciting. And how is it with reference to Dhamma that I describe person as a brahman with threefold knowledge, and not another as measured by citing & reciting? “There is the case where a monk recollects his manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two… five, ten… fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction & expansion: ‘There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my sensitivity to pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my sensitivity to pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.’ Thus he recollects his manifold past lives in their modes & details.“This is the first knowledge he has attained. Ignorance (Avijja) has been destroyed; knowledge has arisen; darkness has been destroyed; light has arisen—as happens in one who remains alert, ardent, & resolute. “Then again, the monk sees—by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human—beings passing away & re-appearing, and he discerns how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their actions: ‘These beings—who were endowed with bodily misconduct, verbal misconduct, & mental misconduct; who reviled noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views at the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in a plane of deprivation, a bad destination, a lower realm, hell. But these beings—who were endowed with bodily good conduct, verbal good conduct, & mental good conduct; who did not revile noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views—at the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in a good destination, a heavenly world.’ Thus—by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human—he sees beings passing away & re-appearing, and discerns how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their actions. “This is the second knowledge he has attained. Ignorance (Avijja) has been destroyed; knowledge(understanding) has arisen; darkness has been destroyed; light has arisen—as happens in one who remains alert, ardent, & resolute. “Then again, the monk—with the ending of asavas(wants/desires)—remains in the asava(want/desire)-free freed mind & with direct understanding(panna) , directly knowing & realizing it for himself right in the here-&-now. “This is the third knowledge he has attained. Ignorance (Avijja) has been destroyed; knowledge has arisen; darkness has been destroyed; light has arisen—as happens in one who remains alert, ardent, & resolute. “It’s in this way that, with reference to Dhamma, I describe person as a brahman with threefold knowledge, and not another as measured by citing & reciting.” He knows his former lives. He sees heavens & states of woe, has attained the ending of birth, is a sage who has mastered direct-knowing. By means of these three knowledges he becomes a three-knowledge brahman. 1 He’s what I call a three-knowledge man— not another, citing, reciting. ---- NOTE: 1. In the brahmanical religion, a “three-knowledge man” was one who had memorized the three Vedas. This verse takes the brahmanical term and gives it a new, Buddhist meaning. See also: MN 4; Dhp 423; Thag 4:8; Thig 5:11; Thig 5:12; Thig 12; Thig 13:2